Good review. I have been tying on a Griffin Odyssey Spider Cam for several years. I tie mostly bass flies, hook sizes from 1/0 down to an 8. I have never had a problem. Griffin makes wonderful vises for the price point.
After about two decades of tying on a simple Thompson A style vise and having no issues, I elected to go with a rotary vise. I chose the Griffin Montana Mongoose and have no regrets. I really like the cam function as well as the rotary function. I highly recommend this vise. It just makes tying a bit faster and easier than the old A style would allow. It took a bit to get comfortable using rotary but now that it's second nature, I can't see going back.
I just bought the Renzetti Traveler 2300 with the Streamer Pedestal. That pedestal is larger than the one it normally comes with. I also have the Renzetti Presentation 3000 vise. However that vise simply doesn't hold hooks larger than size 18 well. I use the Presentation 3000 to tie flies down to size 28 and it excels at such small flies. I'm glad that Nick was happy with his Renzetti. I expect it'll work well for me while traveling.
Wonderful review! I am brand new to fly tying, and I wanted to start out with a quality vise that I won't grow out of too quickly. Your comparisons have helped immensely!
Having owned all 4 of these vises, I'll congratulate you on your review. You cover most everything. FWIW my ranking based on ownership would not be far off. Renzetti would be #1. It's he smoothest and has less head movement than the rest. Holds any hook like it's welded. ( BTW: A dab of nail polish on the tension screw keeps it from loosing setting.) I use a different base. #2 would be the Mongoose. Good vice but mine had some minor movement in the shaft to head connection that annoyed me.#3 would be the Peak. Good solid vise but I also don't like the adjustment. It's also ugly and a little crude in fit and finish Looks home made. #4 is the Atlas. LOTS of slop and roughness in the entire system. Too bad. It's nicely made and good looking. It just needs better tolerances.
Thank you Nick.Like you I have bigger hands.Alot of my tying involves inverted position.Example like tying crayfish patterns.Also my complaints are lack of finger space to work.Also thread tension when wrapping and the vise shaft moves up and down.Drives me crazy watching a $500.00 Dyna King doing that.Thankyou for such detailed information.Best.
Ya us big handed fellas need a little extra room! Especially when the vise is inverted. Not everyone ties a ton of inverted stuff but those that do need a vise that provides enough room to do so. Always a tough find in my experience. Thanks for watching!
Thanks so much for this. An unexpected conclusion but it helped put my mind at ease about not buying the traveler. The mongoose arrives Tuesday. I didn't base my decision solely on your video but it did help push me in that direction.
I tied on the Atlas Vice for a year when I got into tying. It a good vice for the money and US made. I also have a good friend that has had one for years and loves it. Mine is solid and did't have any of the wobble, slop, looseness issues your did. That being said, I recently upgraded to a Renzetti Presentation 4000 w/ Deluxe Pedestal Base and it is like driving a Cadillac. You can definitely see and feel where the extra $400 goes.
Super detailed, just beginner with a Super A II El Cheapo, and I still haven't tied on it yet ...so upgrade wise this is a good video for me to have a wish list.
Thanks for the Comparison Video ...👍the Colorado Angler 2001 EZ rotary vise that I bought looks very similar to that Renzetti traveler 😎 the Colorado is a clamp thou ( all aluminum & steel jaws ) very sturdy smooth rotary jaws adjust the same way ....other customers says it holds 5/0 bass jig hooks just fine....for me its been great !! but i just make up bass & crappie Jigs for my own use $64.99
I had/ have the Atlas, and utter frustration with mine was bought for me in 2018/19 as a gift .. at first quite impressed as with you heavy or ham fisted tier, but over time I ran into some problems .. tied everything from 4/0 to 16 chronies and Yorkshire, wets .. Jaws , I am on my 3rd set .. as you point out the grooves fit well for larger flies and holds well, however i had problems with hook pop/slip on smaller hooks . . I also tie Chironomids in 12-16s and dries ..The first first set of jaws broke at the rear end of the jaws where roll pin holds it, on a #4 streamer hook. Then second and third set of Jaws all broke the tip of the jaw ( while tying #14 -12 chronies ) .. Here's the kicker .. Ordering a replacement kit ( jaws etc.. ) relatively cheap and not a great issue ..unless you factor in the shipping via courier and the charges for processing at customs and the exchange rate us/cdn.. so 22 us plus 40us shipping x exchange .. x2 so about 70 cdn .. or 60.0 ish, cdn if bought and mailed from UK .. Zero response from Wolf
A year late. The one thing that bugs me about all the reasonably priced vises is the plastic knobs on the adjustment screws. I mean how much more would it cost to put metal knurled knobs on them? Even $10 (no way it should cost that) would be acceptable to make that happen. Good reviews, your personal preferences are fair because they may pertain to others as well.
I would love to see you review the higher end vises as good trustworthy independent reviews for these are very rare and I think would be much appreciated by those looking to do a serious upgrade. I would very much like to hear what you think about the Dyna King Indexer especially. L 👍🎣👍
I would thing the small tensioning screw to preseat the hook before tightening it down with the cam would be clunky with larger hands as both of your hands are fidgeting to adjust. Even more so with smaller hooks.
The auto focus kept hurting my eyes in the beginning , but good info. I was sure on one vise, but now… damn it. Lol i never heard of Wolff vise before… oddly enough they are right down the road from me. Sheesh. I would love to get my hands on each to get the feel for them, as i want a good first vise and hopefully last one for me to buy.
Thumbs up and sub'd. I own the Wolf Atlas and the Peak ... purchased the Atlas first and had same thoughts you did. I think the Peak solved all the issues I (and you) had with the Atlas so I simply stopped purchasing. :) I researched the Renzetti but they are not as lefty friendly as the two vices I own so ... meh ... that Montana Mongoose though has always intrigued ... that is until I watched your video here and saw all the 'wobbling' after you clamped a hook ... attributed most likely to the small pedestal base ... still I can see how you enjoy tying on it due to the space/angle it offers. For me though I think I'm good with my Peak and frankly should sell my Atlas ... which when I bought did come with both pedestal and c-clamp (so older than your example). At the end of the day though I REALLY enjoyed your video and want to give you props and a HUGE thanks for your effort here. I do think some smaller than stock jaws would serve me better as I tie mostly trout sized flies ... Cheers Nick! Thanks again!!!
Very good video and your responses to the comments were very helpful as well (esp about DK not holding smaller hook sizes too well) Mongoose is a vise I'm considering, but what do you think about that cam lever that locks in the hook? Does it get in the way? It looks like it moves to you and away from you instead of up and down like the other vice's levers do. I do have concerns about the base. I tie a lot of musky flies.
Tough question. I use several vises depending on what I'm tying but if I had to choose a single vise to do everything I would probably choose either the Stonfo Transformer or Renzetti Master. The DK Barracuda/Ultimate Indexer is my favorite vise overall but I don't like it much for anything smaller than size 4 so as much as I love it for larger flies it wouldn't be my one choice to cover all my tying
Thank you for your reply. I also have the Renzetti Master and the original DK Barracuda.I primarily tie with the Renzetti and use the DK for the larger hooks. For some reason or another, the serrated portion of the Dyna-King jaws don’t hold hook sizes 12-8 very good. Have you observed that same issue with yours?
Yep that's been my exact experience. A "small" hook for me is size 8-10 but I've never been able to get a DK to hold anything smaller than size 4 very well. The size 6 saltwater hooks I tie a ton on will fit into the groove but not well and I'm always afraid I'm damaging them but they won't hold in the front at all. Ive owned three Barracudas over the years and currently own an Ultimate Indexer and they've all been the same. I absolutely love the vise, especially the shape of the jaws, but just have to use it for larger hooks only
Of these vices or any that you have tried which are good for small >20 size flies. I have had a Danvise for years but hard to maneuver with small flies.
Robert, you're right. It would help if one wears a white shirt in combination with brighter light. I would recommend no dark background while watching dark colored flies and vises. Secondly, extra bright light, pointed on the vises, will give the viewer better view on the products. However, I like this video with explanation of each vise. (By the way, I have de Mongoose and I'm still satisfied with this vise)
If you look on the fly fishing community of FB today, you'll see a Mongoose vise that has fallen apart, and that fulfils a dread that you expressed yourself: this vise is a hotch potch of parts of varying material. There isn't a consistency of high end componentry eg stainless steel throughout, as there is with eg a stonfo. Here in Australia, the Stonfo Flytec is two thirds the cost of a Mongoose. It would be good to see a review across the board, since prices are so variable wrt quality.
Do not buy the Wolff Indiana Atlas. The stem/ stem base are incorrectly machined. The stem has way to much slack to prohibit movement. The C-Clamp is fine, but using the base is horrible as it wobbles a good 3-4mm. If Wolff put another lug in the stem base or machined the stem to be larger or the stem base smaller it would be a great vise. Wolff is aware of the problem, but is unwilling to address it.
I've had my Wolff Atlas for a couple of years and never had an issue with it wobbling. It has been super solid and works great with my high volume of tying trout and bass flies.
Weird. I have the Wolff and no such issue. Everything tight, and I like how heavy and substantial it is. Jaws work fine, but could use a little refining.
Brian Eaton I was very impressed with the Wolff out of the box. When I assembled it, the design flaw was evident. As I said, the minute the Customer Service rep said the product manager was aware of the problem and didn’t see a reason to fix it it was on its way back to the retailer. Got a Renzetti- It’s perfect.
elkhair7 if it was a design flaw, then mine wouldn’t be working great for 4 years. I suspect you just got one with a manufacturing defect. Same thing could have happened with your renzetti, but didn’t, just like I didn’t get one with my Wolff.... shouldn’t make blanket statements just because yours had a flaw.
Your video influenced me over a year ago to purchase the Mongoose. Very very happy I did! Thank you for putting this together!
Good review. I have been tying on a Griffin Odyssey Spider Cam for several years. I tie mostly bass flies, hook sizes from 1/0 down to an 8. I have never had a problem. Griffin makes wonderful vises for the price point.
After about two decades of tying on a simple Thompson A style vise and having no issues, I elected to go with a rotary vise. I chose the Griffin Montana Mongoose and have no regrets. I really like the cam function as well as the rotary function. I highly recommend this vise. It just makes tying a bit faster and easier than the old A style would allow. It took a bit to get comfortable using rotary but now that it's second nature, I can't see going back.
I know this is almost two years ago but answered most of my questions today, Thank you!
Thank you for the review. I’m ready to step up my tying and was looking at 3/4 vices you reviewed, so this was extremely helpful. 🙏🏼
I just bought the Renzetti Traveler 2300 with the Streamer Pedestal. That pedestal is larger than the one it normally comes with. I also have the Renzetti Presentation 3000 vise. However that vise simply doesn't hold hooks larger than size 18 well. I use the Presentation 3000 to tie flies down to size 28 and it excels at such small flies. I'm glad that Nick was happy with his Renzetti. I expect it'll work well for me while traveling.
Wonderful review! I am brand new to fly tying, and I wanted to start out with a quality vise that I won't grow out of too quickly. Your comparisons have helped immensely!
Having owned all 4 of these vises, I'll congratulate you on your review. You cover most everything. FWIW my ranking based on ownership would not be far off. Renzetti would be #1. It's he smoothest and has less head movement than the rest. Holds any hook like it's welded. ( BTW: A dab of nail polish on the tension screw keeps it from loosing setting.) I use a different base. #2 would be the Mongoose. Good vice but mine had some minor movement in the shaft to head connection that annoyed me.#3 would be the Peak. Good solid vise but I also don't like the adjustment. It's also ugly and a little crude in fit and finish Looks home made. #4 is the Atlas. LOTS of slop and roughness in the entire system. Too bad. It's nicely made and good looking. It just needs better tolerances.
Thank you Nick.Like you I have bigger hands.Alot of my tying involves inverted position.Example like tying crayfish patterns.Also my complaints are lack of finger space to work.Also thread tension when wrapping and the vise shaft moves up and down.Drives me crazy watching a $500.00 Dyna King doing that.Thankyou for such detailed information.Best.
Ya us big handed fellas need a little extra room! Especially when the vise is inverted. Not everyone ties a ton of inverted stuff but those that do need a vise that provides enough room to do so. Always a tough find in my experience. Thanks for watching!
Great video and advice. You really helped me make my decision. I’m going with the Griffin. Thank you.
Thanks so much for this. An unexpected conclusion but it helped put my mind at ease about not buying the traveler. The mongoose arrives Tuesday. I didn't base my decision solely on your video but it did help push me in that direction.
Mine will be here on Monday, I had already ordered it before watching this video. I was seriously considering the traveler.
I tied on the Atlas Vice for a year when I got into tying. It a good vice for the money and US made. I also have a good friend that has had one for years and loves it. Mine is solid and did't have any of the wobble, slop, looseness issues your did. That being said, I recently upgraded to a Renzetti Presentation 4000 w/ Deluxe Pedestal Base and it is like driving a Cadillac. You can definitely see and feel where the extra $400 goes.
Super detailed, just beginner with a Super A II El Cheapo, and I still haven't tied on it yet ...so upgrade wise this is a good video for me to have a wish list.
Thank you ! I am in the market for a rotary vise so this has been a great help.
Thanks for the Comparison Video ...👍the Colorado Angler 2001 EZ rotary vise that I bought looks very similar to that Renzetti traveler 😎 the Colorado is a clamp thou ( all aluminum & steel jaws ) very sturdy smooth rotary jaws adjust the same way ....other customers says it holds 5/0 bass jig hooks just fine....for me its been great !! but i just make up bass & crappie Jigs for my own use $64.99
You may want to use the c-clamp to secure the pedestal. I use a clamp form traveler pedestal
I had/ have the Atlas, and utter frustration with mine was bought for me in 2018/19 as a gift .. at first quite impressed as with you heavy or ham fisted tier, but over time I ran into some problems .. tied everything from 4/0 to 16 chronies and Yorkshire, wets .. Jaws , I am on my 3rd set .. as you point out the grooves fit well for larger flies and holds well, however i had problems with hook pop/slip on smaller hooks .
.
I also tie Chironomids in 12-16s and dries ..The first first set of jaws broke at the rear end of the jaws where roll pin holds it, on a #4 streamer hook. Then second and third set of Jaws all broke the tip of the jaw ( while tying #14 -12 chronies ) ..
Here's the kicker .. Ordering a replacement kit ( jaws etc.. ) relatively cheap and not a great issue ..unless you factor in the shipping via courier and the charges for processing at customs and the exchange rate us/cdn.. so 22 us plus 40us shipping x exchange .. x2 so about 70 cdn .. or 60.0 ish, cdn if bought and mailed from UK ..
Zero response from Wolf
A year late. The one thing that bugs me about all the reasonably priced vises is the plastic knobs on the adjustment screws. I mean how much more would it cost to put metal knurled knobs on them? Even $10 (no way it should cost that) would be acceptable to make that happen. Good reviews, your personal preferences are fair because they may pertain to others as well.
I would love to see you review the higher end vises as good trustworthy independent reviews for these are very rare and I think would be much appreciated by those looking to do a serious upgrade. I would very much like to hear what you think about the Dyna King Indexer especially. L 👍🎣👍
Excellent review point by point...just what I was hoping to watch.
I would thing the small tensioning screw to preseat the hook before tightening it down with the cam would be clunky with larger hands as both of your hands are fidgeting to adjust. Even more so with smaller hooks.
Just never been a problem for me. I adjust with one hand and it takes but a brief moment. Tied on that style for so long I guess I'm just used to it
Absolutely a Great video review ...now I'll be pety ...when you make another wear a white Patagonia...the dark made it hard to see your review.
Thank You for helpful, interesting and very detailed reviews. Go on with Your good work ☺️👍 Greets from 🇸🇪
Thank you very much for watching and for the kind words. Much appreciated!
You’re welcome Nick. Good work has to be rewarded👍 I’m already looking forward to Your next video.
The auto focus kept hurting my eyes in the beginning , but good info.
I was sure on one vise, but now… damn it. Lol i never heard of Wolff vise before… oddly enough they are right down the road from me. Sheesh.
I would love to get my hands on each to get the feel for them, as i want a good first vise and hopefully last one for me to buy.
Thumbs up and sub'd. I own the Wolf Atlas and the Peak ... purchased the Atlas first and had same thoughts you did. I think the Peak solved all the issues I (and you) had with the Atlas so I simply stopped purchasing. :) I researched the Renzetti but they are not as lefty friendly as the two vices I own so ... meh ... that Montana Mongoose though has always intrigued ... that is until I watched your video here and saw all the 'wobbling' after you clamped a hook ... attributed most likely to the small pedestal base ... still I can see how you enjoy tying on it due to the space/angle it offers. For me though I think I'm good with my Peak and frankly should sell my Atlas ... which when I bought did come with both pedestal and c-clamp (so older than your example). At the end of the day though I REALLY enjoyed your video and want to give you props and a HUGE thanks for your effort here. I do think some smaller than stock jaws would serve me better as I tie mostly trout sized flies ... Cheers Nick! Thanks again!!!
FYI: Renzetti makes left handed vises; they're a dream to tie on.
The first grove ha ha a hook went flying out and almost took my eye out.
I have had my Peak vise for over ten years and the plastic screws show no wear at all. They hold just as well as they did when I bought it.
Thank you...big help. Bought the Traveler...what is the o-ring used for on the vise head?
Very good video and your responses to the comments were very helpful as well (esp about DK not holding smaller hook sizes too well) Mongoose is a vise I'm considering, but what do you think about that cam lever that locks in the hook? Does it get in the way? It looks like it moves to you and away from you instead of up and down like the other vice's levers do. I do have concerns about the base. I tie a lot of musky flies.
3/31/22 nearly 3 years to the day and most of these sub $200 vices are now $200+.
I've used size 20 on wolf vises; no prob.
Nick, if money is not an option to 700.00, which vise would you chose and purchase for yourself?
Tough question. I use several vises depending on what I'm tying but if I had to choose a single vise to do everything I would probably choose either the Stonfo Transformer or Renzetti Master. The DK Barracuda/Ultimate Indexer is my favorite vise overall but I don't like it much for anything smaller than size 4 so as much as I love it for larger flies it wouldn't be my one choice to cover all my tying
Thank you for your reply. I also have the Renzetti Master and the original DK Barracuda.I primarily tie with the Renzetti and use the DK for the larger hooks. For some reason or another, the serrated portion of the Dyna-King jaws don’t hold hook sizes 12-8 very good. Have you observed that same issue with yours?
Yep that's been my exact experience. A "small" hook for me is size 8-10 but I've never been able to get a DK to hold anything smaller than size 4 very well. The size 6 saltwater hooks I tie a ton on will fit into the groove but not well and I'm always afraid I'm damaging them but they won't hold in the front at all. Ive owned three Barracudas over the years and currently own an Ultimate Indexer and they've all been the same. I absolutely love the vise, especially the shape of the jaws, but just have to use it for larger hooks only
Are you still liking your Mongoose? Did anything change in the last year?
Of these vices or any that you have tried which are good for small >20 size flies. I have had a Danvise for years but hard to maneuver with small flies.
I wish I could give you some info but I just don't tie anything smaller than size 8.
Mongoose a clear winner!
If u don't use all the time ECT. With your tying than why make a video
What's up with the moon lighting. Maybe redo this video using brighter lighting.
Robert, you're right. It would help if one wears a white shirt in combination with brighter light. I would recommend no dark background while watching dark colored flies and vises. Secondly, extra bright light, pointed on the vises, will give the viewer better view on the products. However, I like this video with explanation of each vise. (By the way, I have de Mongoose and I'm still satisfied with this vise)
I want something go up to 70
the vise is black and your shirt is black, it is hard to see
Fix the whiteballance please.
Wow, Nick you have a lot of money to be able to buy four vises just for a UA-cam video.
If you look on the fly fishing community of FB today, you'll see a Mongoose vise that has fallen apart, and that fulfils a dread that you expressed yourself: this vise is a hotch potch of parts of varying material. There isn't a consistency of high end componentry eg stainless steel throughout, as there is with eg a stonfo. Here in Australia, the Stonfo Flytec is two thirds the cost of a Mongoose. It would be good to see a review across the board, since prices are so variable wrt quality.
Can I have one? 🙈🙈
Do not buy the Wolff Indiana Atlas. The stem/ stem base are incorrectly machined. The stem has way to much slack to prohibit movement. The C-Clamp is fine, but using the base is horrible as it wobbles a good 3-4mm. If Wolff put another lug in the stem base or machined the stem to be larger or the stem base smaller it would be a great vise. Wolff is aware of the problem, but is unwilling to address it.
I've had my Wolff Atlas for a couple of years and never had an issue with it wobbling. It has been super solid and works great with my high volume of tying trout and bass flies.
Weird. I have the Wolff and no such issue. Everything tight, and I like how heavy and substantial it is. Jaws work fine, but could use a little refining.
Brian Eaton I was very impressed with the Wolff out of the box. When I assembled it, the design flaw was evident. As I said, the minute the Customer Service rep said the product manager was aware of the problem and didn’t see a reason to fix it it was on its way back to the retailer. Got a Renzetti- It’s perfect.
elkhair7 if it was a design flaw, then mine wouldn’t be working great for 4 years. I suspect you just got one with a manufacturing defect. Same thing could have happened with your renzetti, but didn’t, just like I didn’t get one with my Wolff.... shouldn’t make blanket statements just because yours had a flaw.
Brian Eaton I’m not going to bother trying to explain it to you a third time.
Poor video. Not sure if you ever did any thing with any of the vices but not the truth.